Picasso – Important Works on Paper

Saturday 7th June – Sunday 29th June

We are proud to present our stunning collection of Pablo Picasso prints, all originals from the time period. The collection includes signed and unsigned Picasso Exhibition posters from the 1960s to the late 70s.

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Who is Pablo Picasso?

Pablo Picasso (b.1881) was a Spanish painter who is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists of the twentieth century.

He was born Pablo Ruiz, the son of an art teacher and later adopted his mother’s maiden name of Picasso. He grew up in Barcelona, showing artistic talent at an early age. In the early 1900s, he moved between France and Spain before finally settling in Paris in 1904. There, he experimented with a number of styles and produced his own original ones, reflected in his ‘Blue’ and ‘Rose’ periods.

Galerie H. Matarasso, 1957

£1,350

“Painting isn’t an aesthetic operation; it’s a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange hostile world and us.”

In 1907 Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a revolutionary work that introduced a major new style, ‘Cubism’, working closely with the French artist Georges Baraque in the development of this style. Picasso’s next major innovation, in 1912, was ‘Collage’, attaching pieces of cloth, newspapers or advertising to his paintings.

Picasso moved from style to style, experimenting with painting and sculpture and became involved with the Surrealist movement. In 1937, he produced his masterpiece, ‘Guernica’, a painting inspired by the destruction of the town in northern Spain by German bombers during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso supported the Republican government fighting against General Franco, and never returned to Spain after Franco’s victory.

“Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.”

Unlike many artists, Picasso remained in Paris during the German occupation. From 1946 to his death, he lived mainly in the south of France. He continued to produce a huge variety of work including paintings, sculptures, etchings and ceramics as well as a vast array of posters and other works on paper.

L’Heritage De Delacroix, 1964

£1,350

Picasso was involved with a number of women during his life who were often artistic muses as well as lovers. He had four children. On 8th April 1973, he died of a heart attack at his home in Cannes.

“If I paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse…but surely you will see the wildness.”

Style Timeline

Blue Period 1901-1904

This period is characterized by essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colours. These sombre works, inspired by Spain but painted in Paris, are now some of his most popular works. The works seem to reflect his experience of relative poverty and instability, depicting beggars, circus people or the poor.

Sala Gaspar

£1,475

Rose Period 1904-1906

This period signifies the time when the style of Picasso’s painting regains its romantic quality in a series of cheerful and warm orange and pink colours, During these few years, Picasso was happy in his relationship with Fernande Oliver. Harlequins, circus performers and clowns appear frequently and will populate his paintings at various stages through the rest of his career.

Museo Picasso, Placio Agular

£475

Primitivism and Africa 1907-1909

Picasso looked further afield for inspiration at this time of his career, painting in a style strongly influenced by African and ancient Iberian sculpture. During this time the French empire was expanding into Africa, and African artifacts were being brought back to Paris museums. It was during this period that Picasso painted his most famous work Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, echoing the angular shapes of the African masks and sculptures he saw in the Louvre

SIGNED

Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe – Galerie Louise Leris, 1962

£7,350

Cubism 1909-1912

From 1909 onwards Picasso moved toward abstraction, leaving only enough signs of the real world to supply a tension between the reality of the outside of the painting and the complicated meditations on visual language within the frame, resulting in the artistic movement known as Cubism. Picasso analysed natural forms and reduced them into basic geometric parts on a two-dimensional plane. Colour was almost non-existent except for the use of a monochromatic scheme that often included grey, blue and ochre.

SIGNED

Galerie Louise Leris ,1960

£7,350

Classicism and Surrealism 1918-1945

Picasso’s Cubist periods was followed by his neo-classicism, a return to tradition. In the period following the upheaval of World War I, Picasso produced work in a neoclassical style. This return to order is evident in the works of many European artists in the 1920s.

Much of his work after 1927 is also fantastic and visionary in character. The Surrealism movement was growing in strength and popularity and even Picasso could not really avoid being influenced by it.

Galerie Lucie Weill, 1966

£1,350

Post 1945

Picasso’s late works were a mixture of styles, his means of expression in constant flux until the end of his life. Devoting his full energies to his work, he became more daring, his works more colourful and expressive and from 1968 through to 1971 he produced a torrent of paintings and hundreds of copperplate etchings. At the time these works were dismissed by most as pornographic fantasies of an old man or the slapdash works of an artist past his prime. Only later, after his death, when the rest of the art world had moved on from abstract expressionism, did the critical community come to see that Picasso had already discovered neo-expressionism and as, as so often before, ahead of his time.

Galerie Lucie Weill, 1967-1968

£1,250

Sala Gaspar, 1968

£1,950

In the last years of his life painting had become an obsessions with Picasso, and he would date each picture with absolute precision, thus creating a vast amount of similar paintings – as if attempting to crystallize individual moments of time.

From Saturday 17th May Castle Fine Art, Edinburgh are proud to introduce: TEMPER

Iconic album covers that have been given a new spin by internationally acclaimed graffiti artist Temper are on display at the gallery this weekend.

A B-Boy Road

Cover:versions, the latest collection by artist Temper, who has been commissioned by the likes of Roman Abramovich, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Saatchi and Saatchi and created graffiti art for Coca-Cola.

The collectionis a composition inspired by 12 of music’s most iconic records that have been transformed by Temper into works of art. The original pieces are created using oils and acrylic, a first for the graffiti artist who is known for his skills with a spray can.

Maybe Def

In taking well-known album artwork from successful and influential artists and next adding his own iconic graffiti characters – the B-Boys, which have been with him since the start of his career- he’s created a new and exciting body of work that’s relatable and nostalgic. This collection is the harmony between the landscape and the characters, which explores the old and the new. Temper has successfully brought together two artistic concepts in such a way that a new narrative has been created and captures the viewers’ attention.

“Using oil paint was so different to spray paint, spray paint travels out of the spray can at approximately 130mph so in effect my brain has to be working at least 260mph to keep ahead of the paint. Although, when it came to the use of oil it was quite frustrating at first to feel my brain rushing to my usual speed and realising that oil paint moves at 5mph.”

Plan The Exit

Temper has ensured the integrity of his vision is realised through every detail, no matter how minute; the size of the limited edition prints are 12inch x 12inch, the measurements of a traditional album cover.

“My first introduction to art was seeing album covers in a cousin’s house and this is something that has always stuck with me. I’ve always been known for my photo realism and this collection has allowed me to show another side of myself and explore a new medium.”

City Anthems

“When people see the collection they’ll be able to go on a journey through the records and see the skill it has taken to create each background and see how I’m always looking to push the boundaries and break new personal records.”

Each graphic has been created as giclee paper limited edition of 195 and are certified and personally signed by Temper. The prints are priced £395 each.

Calling all Stones and Beatles fans! This is an event you CANNOT miss!

Come and join us from Saturday 24th May – Sunday 8th June 2014

LEGENDS: an exclusive collection of contemporary art from some of the most influence figures in the worlds of art, music and popular culture.

This exhibition brings together art that has a place in history. From unique hand drawn and hand coloured originals celluloids taken from an artistic collaboration between John Lennon and Stephen Verona for The Beatles’music video ‘I Feel Fine’ in 1964, to original works of art, hand-written song lyrics and hand-painted guitars from Ronnie Wood’s Raw Instinct collection that provide a unique insight into his world.

Also featuring work by John Pasche, who famously designed The Rolling Stones Tongue and Lip logo in 1971 which was produced for The Sticky Fingers Album, and has subsequently been voted the most recognisable music band logo worldwide.

The Blue Smoke Suite – Mick -2012

Boxed Canvas

£1,750

Charlie

Silver Gelatin

£1,500

Michael Donald’s photography, which having previously been exhibited at The National Portrait Gallery, is a worthy qualifier for this star-studded line-up. His portraits of Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts are both strikingly executed and endearingly demystifying; they penetrate the band’s otherwise impenetrable demi-god veneer.

Youare invited to:

From Saturday 12th April the new Bob Dylan collection will be hanging in the gallery, so come down and have a peek!

What’s it all about?

In the form of covers from famous magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone, Dylan has taken social, political and pop-culture icons and married them with headlines and images either ripped from other publications or just pulled from the ether. The finished pieces, printed on large silkscreen canvas and silkscreen paper are both absurd and satirical. They take aim at the lofty public figures and celebrities, re-imagining their lives. Also in Dylan’s sights are the magazines themselves, for their covers that encompass dizzying arrays of unrelated subjects and for their lewd and violent imagery, used to catch the eye.

Revisionist Art looks to re-evaluate and re-contextualise things that we have known and maybe take for granted. It can satirise, it can parody, and it can also seek truths that were missed or even hidden the first time around. It aims to shed a light in the face of passive acceptance and make the audience pause and think again.

Does this spark your interest?

If the answer is ‘YES!‘ then come down to Castle Fine Art Edinburgh and enjoy a nice little tipple of something as you ponder Dylan’s new creations!